Blah-arracks

I mean, Barracks a.k.a. the least effective units in Kingdom Rush.

"I suck!" "No, I suck more, knave!"

I hate to end on a low note, especially after singing the praises of Kingdom Rush, but the Barracks Towers are quite unnecessary in order to succeed in Kingdom Rush, IMO. I never built  them, never felt I needed them, and never understood their utility. They're filler, like rice cakes, or Ryan Seacrest. But here now, for the sake of completion, are the cost stats for the Barracks Tower:

	Lvl 1		Lvl 2		Lvl 3		Special		Lvl 4	Xtra 1	Xtra 2	Xtra 3		Total Cost
Infantry	70		110		160		Holy Order (Heal)		230	150	150	150		1130
Infantry	70		110		160		Holy Order (Shield)		230	250	---	---		930
Infantry	70		110		160		Holy Order (Strike)		230	220	150	150		1200
Infantry	70		110		160		Barbarian (+ Axes)		230	300	100	100		1180
Infantry	70		110		160		Barbarian (Attack)		230	150	100	100		1030
Infantry	70		110		160		Barbarian (Throw)		230	200	100	100		1080

So, according to this table, The Barbarian Attack Specials Tower is the most cost efficient. I found it even more cost efficient to just not build them and save myself 1,030 coins.

Big Bang Theory

Bombs & Artillery Towers in Kingdom Rush

With special guest star, Nikolai Tesla!

The usefulness and utility of Artillery Towers in Kingdom Rush is a bit like a tortoise and hare race; slow and plodding at the outset, but ultimately a real winner in the end. These towers cause area effect damage, meaning they can do bad things to multiple enemies with a single shot. It might take some time and money, but in the end, you'll end up on the path to victory with them. 

	Lvl 1		Lvl 2		Lvl 3		Special		Lvl 4	Xtra 1	Xtra 2	Xtra 3		Total Cost
Artillery	125		220		320		Bertha (Dragon)		400	250	100	100		1515
Artillery	125		220		320		Bertha (Cluster)		400	250	150	150		1615
Artillery	125		220		320		Tesla (SCharge)		375	250	250			1540
Artillery	125		220		320		Tesla (OCharge)		375	250	125	150		1565

Yet again, the cheapest upgrade path is probably the best weapon against your foes, at least in my (never wrong) opinion. The Big Bertha Tower with the Dragon's Breath Special variant can hit multiple enemies, both on land and in the air, from vast distances. While I like watching the Medieval steampunk-esque Tesla Towers zapping multiple enemies, they don't seem to have the same effectiveness as the Big Bertha Special. For my coins, Bertha is the girl that can hurl!

The Wiz Biz

Mage Towers in Kingdom Rush - you know you wand them!

Review

Apologies for that awful pun - it's early, OK people? Hopefully the following peek under the hood into Mage Towers in Kingdom Rush will make up for that.

The Mage Tower units are the mystical counterpart to the Ranged Towers in KR. However, once upgraded into and above their Special level, they can wield an extremely wide array of destructive spells. Lets take a look into the four types available, and their cost:

	Lvl 1		Lvl 2		Lvl 3		Special		Lvl 4	Xtra 1	Xtra 2	Xtra 3		Total Cost
Mage	100		160		240		Arcane (Death Ray)		300	350	200	200		1550
Mage	100		160		240		Arcane (Teleport)		300	300	100	100		1300
Mage	100		160		240		Sorc (Polymorph)		300	300	150	150		1400
Mage	100		160		240		Sorc (Elemental)		300	350	150	150		1450

Clearly, Teleport is the cheapest of the four options. But in this case, I think it's a tie between Teleport and Elemental in terms of usefulness in battle, despite Elemental cost being second highest. Teleport will transport your enemies back to an earlier part of the path, which allows your other Towers to have a second shot at damaging them. This is really useful during boss battles. The Elementals just stop the enemy dead in their tracks, can inflict damage, and can be re-positioned. Teleport is more of passive defense. If you have the coins, a double tower team of both types can be beyond lethal.

Mage Towers do have their weaknesses - certain enemies, like Shaman, Giant Spiders, and Worg, all have high resistance to Mage Tower attacks. So placing other Tower types, like Ranged, in the same area as Mage Towers, will keep the enemy from just running through your Mage Towers unscathed.

A point of clarification: A Tower can be upgraded to both type of Specials i.e. an Arcane Tower can have Death Ray AND Teleport powers. But often, it's better to spread your limited coin resources to other Towers, rather than totally pimp out just one Tower.